Georgia Hutchinson, a 13-year-old from Woodside, won top prize and $25,000 in the Broadcom Masters.

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Woodside resident Georgia Hutchinson, 13, won top honors and $25,000 at a
national science and engineering competition for middle school students for
a project that could make converting to solar energy cheaper. (Courtesy of the Society for Science and the Public)

Last summer, Georgia Hutchinson and thousands of other Americans watched the total solar eclipse darken the sky above Corvallis, Oregon.

But then the 13-year-old from Woodside did something pretty unusual: She went home and built a solar power system programmed to follow the sun so it generates as much electricity as possible.

Her uncle had called on the drive back from Oregon and boasted that he’d invested in solar energy and would have free electricity in a couple of decades. Georgia was not impressed.

“I thought 20 years was way too long,” she said in a video where she talked about her project.

Now, her invention not only has the potential to make solar power more affordable and accessible, but it’s won her top honors at a national science and engineering competition for middle schoolers.

The Broadcom Foundation, along with the Society for Science and the Public, announced in October that Georgia and several other Bay Area natives snagged top honors in the Broadcom Masters, which draws thousands of applicants from across the country.

As the overall champion, Georgia will take home a $25,000 prize, which she must spend on furthering her education. The teen, who surfs competitively and plays water polo when she’s not busy tutoring, wants to be a mechanical engineer.

Jack Albright (Courtesy of the Society for Science and the Public)

Georgia likes, she said recently, the idea of building something that can help people and change their lives.

Jack Albright, a student at the Nueva School in Hillsborough, took second prize and won $20,000 for developing a tool to predict the onset of Alzheimer’s.

His grandmother was diagnosed with the disease and, Albright said in a short video about his project, “I wanted to develop something that could help patients like her.”

Jacqueline Prawira, from Mountain House, won the $10,000 third prize for her exploration of how plant-based material that is typically thrown away could be used to strengthen plastic.

“I want to live in a cleaner and healthier environment,” Prawira said in a video.

Youngsters from San Jose, Castro Valley and Cupertino also won top honors in various categories.

Middle school is a crucial time of transition for young people, said Maya Ajmera, the president and CEO of the Society for Science and the Public, and the organization wants to foster an interest in STEM — science, technology, engineering and math — in young people.

Jacqueline Prawira (Courtesy of the Society for Science and the Public)

“This is when you can either be turned on or turned off to something,” Ajmera said.

Georgia, who attends public school in Woodside, has loved science and engineering for years. In third grade, she talked her way into a computer science class where she was the youngest student and only girl. The next year, she founded a programming club for girls called the Codettes, where she and her friends hung out and programmed stuff and, crucially, where her love of coding took off.

As a participant in the Broadcom Masters, Georgia traveled to Washington, D.C. with other finalists. She got to showcase her project and participate in a series of challenges, where, Ajmera said, she shined.

“She just excelled in the challenges and being a great team player and being a leader,” Ajmera said, adding that the judges looked at leadership and how the kids dealt with challenges and failure.

“A lot of these kids come in and say, ‘I found my people,'” she added.

Georgia feels that way, too.

“Broadcom really was a once in a lifetime opportunity,” she said. “I was so excited and I got to share my passion for science and engineering with a bunch of kids my age, with kids who love it as much as I do.”

Georgia is keenly aware that not every kid in the Bay Area has had access to the same opportunities as her. She wants to help bring more STEM education to underserved schools.

“There’s a lot of passion out there for science,” she said. “It just needs to be tapped.”

In the coming months, Georgia and her family are working on figuring out a patent for her solar idea, and she may apply to other science fairs. She’ll also keep surfing and swimming and looking ahead to high school.

“We’re very excited,” said her mom, Christine, who does not have a science background.

“I hope,” Georgia said, “that more people can invest in renewable energy.”

In its first look at the fiscal year starting July 1, 2019, California's Legislative Analyst’s Office is forecasting a $2.4 billion funding increase under Proposition 98, the formula that determines the minimum amount of state revenue for K-14 education.